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Flying South: The Creation of a Spoken Word Space for

Re(claiming) Mental Health Narratives

Submitted by: Trudie (Megan) Gorman

Third Year Sociology

Supervisor: Dr. Mary Benson

Date Submitted: 29th of April 2015

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For all of the mad who have been silenced.

May your voices be finally heard.

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Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Space as Power 2

(1.2.1) The Production of Space 2

(1.2.2) Space as Oppression 3

1.3 The Spacialisation of Madness 4

(1.3.1) The Asylum 4

(1.3.2) The Emergence of Psychiatry 5

(1.3.3) The Anti-Psychiatry Movement 7

(1.3.4) Alternative Spaces: Peer Support 8

1.4 Reclaiming Mental Health Narratives in Spoken Word Spaces 10

(1.4.1) Spoken Word 10

(1.4.2) Spoken Word Spaces as Resistance 13

1.5 Conclusion 13

Chapter 2: Methodology 15

2.1 Statement of Research Question 15

2.2 Objectives of Research 15

2.3 Why Participatory Action Research (PAR)? 16

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2.3 Sources of Data 17

(2.3.1) The PAR Working Group 17

(2.3.1) Cycles of Action and Reflection 19

2.4 Qualitative Methods 20

(2.4.1) The Case Study Approach 21

(2.4.2) Interviewing 21

2.5 The Importance of Ethics 22

(2.5.1) Ethical Practice in PAR 22

(2.5.2) Protecting the PAR Group 22

2.6 Gathering and Analysing the Data 23

(2.6.1) Gathering Data 23

(2.6.2) Data Analysis 23

2.7 Barriers within the PAR Process 24

(2.7.1) Issues of Power and Participation 24

(2.7.2) Issues of Generalisability 25

Chapter 3: Discussion of Findings 26

3.1 Introduction 26

3.2 Findings from the PAR Process 27

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(3.2.1) Motivations of the PAR Group 27

(3.2.2) Conceptualising the space 28

(3.2.3) Peer Support within the PAR Process 30

3.3 Outcomes of Flying South 32

(3.3.1) Constructing the Space: Flying South Takes Off 32

(3.3.2) Valuing Our Narratives 34

(3.3.3) The Importance of Dialogue in the Flying South Space 37

3.4 The Journey Continues 38

3.5 Conclusion of Findings 40

4.1 Conclusion 42

4: Bibliography 44

5: Appendix

Appendix A: Transcript of an Interview

Appendix B: Safe Space Policy

Appendix C: Mental Health Services Information Sheet

Appendix D: Flying South Poster

Appendix E: A Spoken Word Poem

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The journey Flying South has taken me on over the past year has enabled me to fly alongside

the most wonderful of people and to re-discover my own voice from an ocean of sadness. I

would like to thank the five wonderful members of the PAR working group/flock who took

this journey with me.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Mary Benson, for your continuous support and solidarity in

carrying out this project and for always having your door open.

Thank you to Chris, Aoife, Becca, Celia and Shannon, whose friendships mean the world to

me.

Thank you to my brother Jamie, for all the late night conversations about changing the world.

I wouldn’t have gotten through the last four years without your laughter, love and endless

support.

Thank you to Tommie, for your support and for sharing with me your love of words.

Finally, thank you to Carol, for believing that a sad little girl in a council house could one day

grow up to become an empowered young woman. I wouldn’t be here without your strength. I

love you.

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This research draws on mental health literature and sociological understandings of space to

argue that a spatialisation of madness has occurred throughout the modern era in the

oppressive space of the asylum. This spatialisation has upheld a metanarrative of madness

based on stigma and silence in wider society. In order to contest such stigma the discourse of

peer support and the practices of spoken word are drawn on to construct an alternative space

for mad narratives to be voiced and reclaimed. In creating such a space the practices of

Participatory Action Research (PAR) are endorsed. PAR is a participatory process in which

both researcher and participants engage equally in cycles of action and reflection geared

towards beneficial social change. The PAR process was conducted alongside five members of

the Dublin spoken word community and utilised qualitative methods such as semi-structured

interviewing and diary account keeping. The spoken word event space created was named

Flying South and occurs monthly. The PAR group identified that the construction of a

material and emotional safe space in Flying South enabled event participants to feel free in

expressing their mental health identities and stories. The importance of performance, self-

value and dialogue were also pivotal within the space which strives to enable a reclaiming of

mental health narratives away from a history of stigma and into the realm of the free, the

human and the spoken.

Abstract

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“Moving from silence into speech is for the oppressed, the colonized, the exploited, and those

who stand and struggle side by side a gesture of defiance that heals, that makes new life and

new growth possible.” (hooks, 1989: 3)

Introduction

Throughout history those of us named mentally ill have suffered a demonization of our

personhoods and a colonisation of our voices in Western society. In this thesis I will explore

the ways in which the oppression of madness has largely been facilitated and systematised

through the social production of space in the forms of mental asylums. I conceptualise

asylum spaces as a spatialisation of madness which has resulted in a culture of stigmatisation

in wider society and a stripping of our own voices and subjective narratives. This spatial

oppression reigns to this day in treatment facilities which rely predominately on bio-medical

models of mental health and deny the inclusion of patients’ experiential and subjective

knowledges. Alternative peer support group spaces were created with the development of the

anti-psychiatry movement in the 1960s which has enabled us to contest the spatialised

oppression of institutions and reclaim our own autonomy. I will draw on the body of work

around the anti-psychiatry movement and peer support in order to analyse the benefits

reported of peer support groups and to relate them to the benefits of spoken word spaces.

The long standing tradition of orality in Irish society has facilitated a booming spoken word

community in Ireland; poetry readings, slams and storytelling collectives are common

occurrences throughout Ireland and indeed the wider world. I believe that spoken word has

become so popular in recent times because it is a very effective and accessible medium for

challenging cultural and structural hegemonies This is due to its rooting in community based

praxis and its emphasis on narrative expression (de la Rosa, 2013). For this reason I explore

the use of spoken word spaces as liberating “spaces of resistance” (hooks, 1989: 206) in

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which community, voice and performance can be drawn on in order to radically reclaim

mental health narratives from the historical metanarrative of powerlessness so often

prescribed to us.

This research initially emerged from two interrelated lived experiences. The first being my

experience in treatment facilities for depression and the second being my induction into the

Dublin spoken word community and the space for subjective and communal expression this

medium has provided me with. My experience in an adolescent psychiatric ward in 2009 was

one of isolation from wider society. My treatment regime largely consisted of anti-depressant

and mood stabiliser medications. In my six months on the ward I was not offered the

opportunity to partake in therapy and my voicing of my experience of depression was usually

belittled or ignored. My experience in the adult public mental health service in Ireland has not

been much different. All too often the professionals I have encountered have been patronising

which has only served to exacerbate the feelings of low self-worth which accompany my

depressive states. These experiences of mainstream public mental health spaces along with

the vernacular knowledge of others’ similar experiences led me to pursue research in the area

of how mental health is perceived and treated. An in depth review of the literature has

illustrated that my experience is all too often the norm rather than the exception for many

people in Irish public mental health service settings which rely predominately on biomedical

models of treatment (Brosnan, 2014: 79, Ni Dhuinneacha, 2008).

In researching ways of challenging and contesting these dehumanising experiences I

discovered the peer-support discourse which grew out of the anti-psychiatry movement. Peer

support creates spaces for the mad to reclaim our own stories and experiences of mental

health beyond historically hierarchical and oppressive mental health treatment models. Peer

support is based on the values of personal and collective empowerment and equality which

enables each person to be valued within the space and to have the opportunity to be heard.

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(Nelson et al, 2006). Congruent to this research I had also become increasingly involved in

the spoken word scene in Dublin. Although spoken word is sometimes a term associated only

with performance poetry, I am defining it here as all forms of narrative spoken word,

including but not exclusive to: poetry, storytelling, drama monologues, comedy, song writing

and anecdotal sharing. My involvement with the spoken word community in Dublin offered

me a space for communal narrative sharing.

Spoken word is a dialectical process involving both the performer/speaker and the audience

in a mutual process (Morrisson, 2000:72). The emphasis on subjective expression enables the

creation of a space in which life experiences are voiced, shared and negotiated in a safe

setting. I began to notice similarities between spoken word spaces and those reported of peer

support groups. Spoken word, like peer support, offers opportunities for vocalising subjective

experiences, for catharsis and for mutual and dialectical support. (Alverez and Mearns 2014:

265). It was then that I began to engage in dialogue with others about a spoken word space

specifically focused on (re)telling experiences of madness and thus this project was born.

Due to the vital importance of subjective voice in my field of research this project is

conducted using Participatory Action Research (PAR) and is written placing equal value on

both traditionally academic and subjective/vernacular forms of knowledge. Over the past four

months I have been engaged with a group of five others in a PAR project to create and sustain

an open-mic spoken word event orientated around the voicing and sharing of mental health

narratives. This event began in March 2015 and in the spirit of creating a safe space to retreat

to it was named Flying South. This thesis documents the PAR process we undertook as a

group and the findings. It is important to note that while this research draws on the discourse

of peer support which emerged from the anti-psychiatry movement, Flying South as a

collective does not identify as an anti-psychiatry group. We believe that the subjective lived

experiences of the mad have been historically silenced and that this silencing still pervades

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today in the form of societical stigmatisation and an over-reliance on biomedical treatments.

We acknowledge that every person’s experience of mental health is different and the

treatment they pursue is particular to their own individual context. We do not act as a

treatment service foe mental health, but rather a community space in which the silencing of

the mad can be contested and our experiences voiced. We believe that every person’s

experience should be listened to and valued. This thesis then documents the journey we

undertook to create a monthly event orientated around mental health expression which strives

to be a safe space in which our experiences of madness can be named and reclaimed using the

tools of spoken word.

Chapter 1: Literature Review

1.1 Introduction

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In this chapter I put my research into context by drawing on three separate bodies of

knowledge which I frame within sociological understandings of space. Firstly I analyse the

social production of space as a tool of exerting power and oppression over the marginalised. I

then look at the literature on madness within a spatial lens to firstly examine the spatialisation

of madness in asylums in the modern era; then to review the recent history of mental health

community collectives and peer support groups as alternative spaces where madness exists.

Finally I explore theoretical studies on the phenomenon of spoken word within a spatial

framework and link the benefits of peer support collective groups with those of spoken word

spaces. In order to best contextualise my argument the bodies of research I am exploring are

positioned under three main headings:

1. Space as Power

2. The Spatialisation of Madness.

And,

3. Spoken Word Spaces

In analysing the benefits of peer based mental health groups and mapping similarities present

between them and those found in spoken word community spaces I argue for the strong

potential spoken word has in mental health expression and narrative (re)claiming. I use

theories of radical space to better construct an argument for the use of a physical and

psychological spoken word community space in reclaiming subjective narratives of madness

from the hands of an all too objective and linear history.

1.2.1 The Production of Space

1.2 Space as Power

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Space and place are often concepts we use interchangeably in everyday language. For many

sociologists place is generally understood as space which has been attributed specific

meaning and identity; space which has been named (Howoirth, 2006: 119). For Thomas

Gieryn the differentiation between the two is that space alludes to a geometric understanding,

while place captures the social relations inherent in its construction and existence (Gieryn,

476). For the purposes of my argument I understand space as not simply rooted in geometry,

but as a concept enriched with social meaning and influence. Space and place have

interchangeable and congruent meanings and both can be utilised as instruments of power

and resistance.

Henri Lefebvre analysed space as socially produced in his work The Production of Space

(Lefebvre, 1991). For Lefebvre space is not an autonomous entity but is socially produced

and reproduced. Space is shaped and determined by the meanings and values prevailing in a

society and is constructed to serve those values while in turn influencing them (Lefebvre,

1978: 26). Creating and negotiating space is a dialectical process in which social meaning is

produced and reproduced through our everyday experiences of it. As social beings and

collective society we name space in order to claim and to use it and space in turn facilitates

the finding of meaning and identity in our lives. But space has also been used as a way of

controlling the formation of that meaning and identity. Space has throughout history been a

tool of power utilised by the socio-politically dominant in society (Springer, 2010: 528). The

production and control of space exudes power in the exclusion and segregation of certain

groups of people. The power of the dominant in society to name certain spaces “official”

enables them with the power to exclude and segregate (Springer, 2010: 542). For David

Howoirth every space relies on what/whom it excludes beyond its borders for the formation

of its own identity (Howoirth 2006: 119) In such a way the production and naming of space

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can be perceived as a way in which segregation and control are personified and acted out on a

spatial axis in order to uphold hegemonic social norms.

1.2.2 Space as Oppression

Lefebvre conceived of two main categories in which space is conceptualised and formed in

society; abstract space and social space (Soja, 1996:10). Abstract space is the place in which

hierarchies are enacted and power is exerted in an effort to control, while social space enables

social interaction and subjective everyday lived experiences to flourish (Gottidiener, 1993:

131). While all spaces have the potential to exclude, if we are to follow Lefebvre’s

categorisations then abstract space is the realm in which spatial organisation is specifically

produced and reproduced as a tool by which to exert power and control. Various examples of

abstract space as a tool of socially warranted segregation can be perceived throughout

history; prison institutions are utilised as spaces to exclude convicted prisoners from wider

society. Abstract space also however, acts as a way of upholding hegemonic ideology which

pertains to exclude those already marginalised and oppressed (Soja, 1996: 12). University

campuses for example have traditionally acted as spaces exclusionary of the working class, of

women and of black people (hooks, 1989). Space can be utilised both as a method of

exclusion and a physical formation of an often oppressive status quo. In this way the social

production of space often enables a discourse of power to reign over the marginalised in

society.

Throughout the modern era space has been utilised in western societies as a way of excluding

those considered mentally ill from society; first in prison institutions and workhouses and

then in the form of mental asylums and hospitals. This spatialisation of madness has enabled

the relegation and silencing of our lived experiences and stories.

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1.3.1 The Mental Asylum

1.3 The Spacialisation of Madness

Throughout history those of us named mentally ill have suffered an oppression of our stories

and personhoods. Since the beginning of the modern era in the western world this oppression

has been greatly facilitated by the spatialisation of madness in the form of mental asylums

and institutions. Prior to the Enlightenment the mad were mostly controlled within the realms

of the family and community (Robins, 1986, 16). It was with the emergence of the reason

versus unreason dichotomy which pervaded the Enlightenment period that this changed.

Madness began to be perceived as unreason and therefore non-human and animalistic

(Foucault, 1988: 14). It became something to be contained. Thus began the

institutionalisation of madness in a process Foucault names “The Great Confinement”

(Foucault, 1988: 227). The use of space as institutional containment was popular during the

enlightenment period in western society (Robins, 1986: 37). Space was already utilised as a

tool of segregation and control in prison institutions and workhouses, but it was with the

creation of mental asylums that it became a way of oppressing madness specifically and on

mass scale. In the early 18th century mental asylums were erected across Europe in which the

mad were imprisoned and their lived experiences of madness defined within a discourse of

institutionalisation.

According to Margaret Kohn spatial configurations influence our perception of ourselves and

our place in society and therefore determine our subjective identity formation (Kohn, 2003:

pp 3-4).The space of the asylum enabled a construction of mad identities as alien and other.

Within asylums the mad were isolated from the wider community both physically and

psychologically (Pilgrim and Rogers, 2002: 144). Walls, gates and physical constraint

ensured their imprisonment and oppression. Their daily lives became regimented under a

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routinised treatment paradigm which was largely centred on the perception of madness as

moral degeneracy (Foucault, 1988:246). Segregation and restraint were the tools the asylum

space enabled in order to control this moral degeneracy away from wider society. This use of

the asylum to segregate and control enabled the mad to form a view of their selves as

different and other. Indeed the main treatment method for madness in the early public

asylums was the enforcement of guilt and a sense of otherness onto patients in order to induce

feelings of remorse and willingness to subdue their own mad identities (Rabinow, 1991:

pp.145-146). This guilt and sense of otherness was often affected by threatening speech acts,

physical constraint, ice cold showers and isolation (Robins: 1986: 54). The mental asylum

provided the spatial representation for a subject/other dialectic between wider society and the

deviant mad to be enacted and normalised. Their relegation into asylum spaces enabled the

projection of marginalised and dehumanised identities onto their personhoods. Then with the

emergence of psychiatry and the over-medicalisation of madness within the asylum these

personhoods became all the more silenced.

1.3.2 The Emergence of Psychiatry

The medicalisation of madness within asylum spaces first became prominent in Germany and

France but soon spread throughout Western Europe (Scull, 2011: 67). This medical model of

madness relied upon biological determinist reasons for madness and situated the root causes

of madness as solely in the brain (Bracken and Thomas, 2001). In an Irish context the

movement of mental asylums from the control of the lay and the church to under that of

physicians and psychiatrists occurred in the mid-19th century (Robins, 1986: 79). Mental

asylums became mental hospitals, still segregated from the community, and now spaces in

which the control of the mad formulated in an over reliance on biomedical treatment. In the

mid-20th century treatment strategies in asylums relied on the use of lobotomies, electric

shock treatments and insulin shock treatments to subdue madness (Robins, 1986: 181). Then

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with the development of psychoactive drugs in the 1960’s the treatment of madness became

and remains to this day one predominantly reliant on medical diagnosis and pharmacological

drugs (Mac Gabhann, 2014: 24).

In an Irish context the treatment of madness nowadays is predominantly determined by a

biomedical model; often disregarding the social context of a person’s life in relation to their

experience of madness (Brown, 2014: 2). This medicalisation of madness has enabled bio-

psychiatry to become the definitive metanarrative surrounding mental health in modern

society. The mad have been predominately silenced in this medical story. The context of their

lived experiences and emotional distress too often ignored in favour of biomedical diagnostic

strategies. Mental hospitals have largely remained isolated from the wider community and

spaces of stigmatisation. Within public mental hospital spaces the mad are forced to take on

identities of patients and passive recipients of treatment, rather than that of full human beings

(Amelie Perron et al, 2005). In his famous study Asylums Goffman named mental hospitals

“total institutions” in which he argued that the mad are stripped of their humanised identities

within the hospital space. Isolation, strict regimentation, surveillance and post-hospital stigma

all contribute to the creation of a mental patient identity devoid of context beyond that of

mental illness (Goffman, 2007). Within the hospital space, like that of the asylum years

before, the mad are all too often isolated and silenced. The biomedical diagnostic strategies

which often prevail in hospital settings perpetuate a hierarchal system in which medical

professionals are considered the experts and the patients themselves left voiceless in their

own treatment plans (Sapouna, 2012: 613).

In an Irish context the official rhetoric on madness has shifted away from institutionalisation

and into the realms of the community in recent years. The Department of Health report “A

Vision for Change: Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy” (Dep. Of Health

and Children, 1986) emphasises the need for community mental health care. However such

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rhetoric has yet to be enacted. The Irish Mental Health Service (MHS) still predominantly

consists of an overuse of prescription drugs, hospitalisations and the inscription of passive

recipient identities onto mental health users (Watts, 2014: 110). A majority of mental health

users report negative experiences of oppression within the MHS (Brosnan, 2014: 79). The

lack of community services for the mad and the over medicalisation of mental health has

ensured that the spaces where madness is authorised to exist in society are still ones of

oppression and segregation. The use of space as a method of segregating madness has

ensured that isolation and silence has prevailed as the dominant metanarrative on madness in

wider society.

Although opposition to purely biomedical models of madness has existed as long as the

psychiatric discipline itself has, biomedical perspectives and hierarchies within mental health

treatment spaces have pervaded throughout the 19th and most of the 21st century. It was with

the insurgence of the anti-psychiatry movement in the 1960s that radical alternatives such as

peer support began to emerge.

1. 3.3 The Anti-Psychiatry Movement

Just as space can be produced and utilised as a tool of oppression and segregation, so too can

it be contested, resisted and renamed (Springer: 2010: 542). The peer support strategies

which emerged from the anti-psychiatry movement created spaces in which the historical

oppression of the mad in segregated spaces could be challenged and voiced. The anti-

psychiatry movement became distinguished in the 1960s when prominent psychiatrists such

as R.D Laing began to challenge the majority biomedical treatment methods used in

psychiatry (Crossley, 2006: 91). Mental health “user” and “survivor” led Social Movement

Organisations (SMO’s) emerged and contested the pervading authority bio-psychiatry held in

the treatment of madness. They demanded more humanising forms of care and the inclusion

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of patient voices in treatment plans (Nelson et al, 2006: 3). Out of this climate of contestation

alternative community mental health groups were born in which those who had lived

experiences of mental health issues, and/or negative professional treatment, founded spaces

for their voices and narratives to be heard (Crossley, 2001: 1486).

In a contemporary context these community based collectives continue to thrive.

User/Survivor based collectives provide a source of community and support for those with

experiences of mental health issues. They often include self-help and peer support groups

which are peer-led and have a focus on communal and subjective empowerment to counter

the historical metanarrative of powerlessness subscribed to the mad. Not all of these

collectives are anti-psychiatry, some even work alongside or include mental health

professionals (Hatzidimitriadou, 2002: 277). It is the creation of an inclusive space in which

subjective experiences of madness can be voiced and the acknowledgement that bio-

psychiatry is only one of multiple truths that these collectives value.

1.3.4 Alternative Spaces: Peer Support

The notion of peer support is grounded in providing a space for people who have experienced

mental health difficulties in which they can be greeted with mutual support and respect from

fellow group members. Peer support and mutual-aid collectives have provided spaces for

madness to exist beyond the historical constraints of stigma and silence. In her case study of

mental health peer support groups in England, Eleni Hatzidimitriadou worked with fourteen

different groups; all of which held community and empowerment at the centre of their

objectives (Hatzidimitriadou, 2002: 279). Hatzidimitriadou discovered in her research that

these groups offered members an array of benefits such as a safe space for sharing

experiences, learning new coping methods, social support, a sense of belonging and the

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forum to exchange experiential knowledges.(Hatzidimitriadou, 2002: 272). All of these

contributed to feelings of collective and personal empowerment.

In many peer support groups feelings of empowerment also grow from critical thinking and

effecting of personal and communal change. In peer support groups critical thinking and

mutual support enables a challenging of the power structures typical of traditional mental

health treatment. Many groups radicalise the traditional hierarchical dichotomy between

“patient” and “professional” by enacting a dialectical sharing of power within the structure of

the collective space itself (Nelson et al, 2006: 5). Such radical action leads to a sense of

empowerment stemming from social interaction, solidarity and critical action; all of which

contribute to a cycle of liberation (Moane, 2011: 16). These collectives also lend themselves

to the process of liberation and decolonisation in providing the space for personal and

communal expression around mental health. Indeed many members of peer support spaces

state that their inclusion in the group offers a process of catharsis through sharing and

reflection (Nelson et al, 2006: 9). Such expression is vital not only for emotional release but

also for the assertion of autonomy and subjective voice. The space for critical exchange and

narrative expression that peer support groups can offer is a vital tool in the humanisation and

liberation of mental health experiences.

Peer support groups endorse self-advocacy, empowerment, equality and reciprocity (Brosnan,

2014: 86, Watts, 2014: 101). As such they can be perceived as spaces of resistance in which

values of mutual-aid and solidarity are drawn upon to resist the spatialisation of madness

within a discourse of relegation and confinement. Rather madness can exist too in spaces of

freedom and openness. In exploring user/survivor initiatives it is obvious that peer support

groups contribute positively to the lives of those with mental health issues; in both the

personal and interpersonal realm as well as enacting positive changes at a communal level.

These groups provide meaning and value to those who attend them and perhaps most

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crucially, spaces for expression where their voices will not only be heard but listened to.

Spoken word has similar traits to that of peer support in that it is historically rooted in both

personal and community-based expression. As such I believe that spoken word could add to

the growing world of community-based mental health collectives and would be an exciting

new forum for mental health narratives to be voiced.

1.4

1.4.1 Spoken Word

Reclaiming Mental Health Narratives in Spoken Word Spaces

While often spoken word is associated only with performance poetry, I am choosing to define

it here as all forms of spoken word – poetry, storytelling, performance poetry, comedy,

anecdotal sharing etc. Orality and spoken word have been integral tools by which meaning

and understanding of human struggle has been sought throughout history (Alverez and

Mearns, 2014: 1). Contemporary spoken word stems from African and African American

cultural oral practices which are rooted in community praxis (Walker, Kuykendall, 2005:

236) and is also influenced by ancient Greek oral practices. Spoken word is essentially a

dialectical narrative practice in which a performer expresses their narratives through spoken

performance and the audience enters into a process of collective engagement, affirmation and

support alongside them (de la Rosa, 2013: 20). Ledwith and Springett (2010: 6) argue that the

expression of narratives enables subjective empowerment and greater understanding of one’s

own story. This in turn fosters critical consciousness and the ability to create alternative

narratives if desired (2010: 6). The emphasis on both subjective and collective expression in

spoken word renders it a potent tool for empowerment and transformation.

Spoken word spaces become sites for critical exchange and consciousness in the communal

conversations the performances create. While the artist performs the audience partake in

active engagement alongside them through the use of an Afrocentric oral device Nommo.

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Nommo is traditionally associated with spoken word expression in African culture and

enables a closer connection between speaker and audience (Stephens, 1989: 374). Such

Nommo tools as lyric quality and rhythm are often used to create an atmosphere of equality

and critical thinking amongst the audience. Call and response is another Nommo tool used in

some spoken word spaces which enables audience interaction throughout the performance by

way of audience responses like sounds of agreement, woops of approval, laughter and word

suggestions (Walker, Kuykendall, 2005: 238). The use of call and response renders spoken

word a dialectical and communal experience of narratives.

1.4.2 Spoken Word Spaces as Resistance

Spoken word’s inherent dialectical quality ensures solidarity and interconnectedness is

constructed in the spoken word space; while critical thinking and expression are developed

through the content of the performance. Such feelings of connection and solidarity enable the

investment of meaning in a space and the forming of community and collective identity

around it (Gieryn, 2000: 479). Spoken word spaces then, share a likeness with the benefits

reported of peer support groups and are potentially ideal for the expression of mental health

narratives in supportive community settings. Freire states that it is through dialogue and

dialectical sharing that we can achieve humanisation and liberation from oppression (Freire,

1996: 69). In this way the dialectical nature of spoken word spaces has the potential to act as

one tool in which the mad might reclaim and liberate their narratives of mental health from a

history of dehumanisation.

In order to better explore spoken word spaces as sites for mental health narrative reclaiming

it is essential to analyse the meaning and value attached to such performance spaces. In an

Irish context the spoken word community is thriving at present, having in 2014 celebrated the

first Irish spoken word festival in Dublin (www.Lingofestival.com) Spoken word events such

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as The Monday Echo, Brown Bread Mixed Tape and Slam Sunday occur on a regular basis

and draw in large crowds. The space these events occur in is created by the social interactions

of the spoken word community attached to it. In this way the space the Dublin spoken word

community constructs can be perceived as a Lefebvrian social space. Social space is the

opposite of abstract space in which hierarchies of power are enacted (Gottidiener, 1993: 131).

Social space is the space in which social life thrives and within which subjective lived

experiences occur and vernacular knowledges are shared (Gottidiener, 1993: 132). Spoken

word spaces are founded on the dialectical relationship shared between the subjective

experience of the performer and the collective interaction and perception of the performance

on the part of the audience. Both the performer and audience contribute to the meaning

created in the space through performance, active engagement and the critical exchange of

subjective knowledges. Spoken word spaces can therefore be conceived as a form of social

space because they are built from community and collective understandings of how the space

comes alive.

Social space like all space consists of multiple layers and as such has the potential to exclude

(Howoirth, 2006: 118). But as Gottidiener notes it is within social rather than abstract space

that oppression and control might be contested (Gottidiener, 1993: 131). As a form of social

space, spoken word events have the capability of challenging the oppression and

stigmatisation of madness. In such a space the act of performance itself is also a radical tool

for the expression of subjective mental health narratives. The use of performance in spoken

word spaces ensures that the performer is seen and the audience actively participate in the act

of seeing (Dooley, 2014: 85, my emphasis). Spoken word spaces have the power to render

visible and audible subjective experiences of madness which typically have been dismissed

by a long history of spatial incarceration and social stigmatisation.

24

Within the realm of social space the sharing and performing of our lived experiences of

mental health issues and of our oppression can act as tools of empowerment and resistance.

bell hooks tells us how the marginalised can claim our position on the margins as “sites of

resistance” within which we can work in solidarity with one another to inform radical

narratives and ways of resistance. The historical spatial marginalisation of the mad can

therefore be claimed and (re)named in order to contest our oppressed positionalties. In the

creation of a mental health spoken word space we can claim and defy our position as

marginalised ‘other’ through dialectical expression, embodiment and performance. Through

spoken word we can rename the spaces in which madness is permitted to exist, from places of

isolation and oppression into spaces of freedom and voice; thus beginning a process of

reclaiming our stories from a historical grand narrative of stigma and silence.

1.5

The literature reviewed in this chapter has mapped out the spacialisation of madness in a

historical process of incarceration and then in alternative peer spaces. Howoirth (Howoirth

2006) argues that hierarchies of power and oppressions are often played out on a spatial axis

in order to solidify barriers and exclusions in society. The mad have been subjected to these

spatial exclusions for centuries in the form of mental asylums and institutions. The use of

space as a tool of segregating the mad enabled a construction of their identities as powerless,

dehumanised and ‘other’. However the creation of mental health peer support groups has

enabled the construction of alternative dialectic spaces, in which the mad can openly express

their experiences within a community of solidarity. It is within such a space that a history of

silencing can be personally and collectively contested by the mad. I have argued that spoken

word spaces share similar traits with the discourse of peer support and as such have huge

potential for the sharing, renaming and reclaiming of mental health narratives. By enacting

speech, performance and dialectical engagement with the audience, spoken word spaces can

Conclusion

25

be conceived as radical sites in which subjective dialogues around madness can be

(re)constructed and negotiated.

In the coming chapters I document the participatory process of creating the Flying South

spoken word space, which is specifically centred on the expression of mental health

narratives. In this space we have endorsed the practices of both peer support and spoken word

to enable subjective and collective expression in a process of reclaiming mental health

narratives.

26

Chapter 2: Methodology

How can spoken word spaces be a tool for the radical reclaiming and renaming of mental

health narratives?

2.1 Statement of Research Question

The main aim of this research has been to use the tools of Participatory Action Research

(PAR) to construct a spoken word space specifically centred on expressing and reclaiming

mental health narratives away from a history of silence and stigmatisation. The theoretical

research I pursued to contextualise my study emerged from both the special topic group I was

situated within in the Sociology Department at Maynooth University and the main themes

which emerged from the dialogue enacted in the PAR group. Participatory Action Research is

a cyclical process in which practice and theory are engaged in a simultaneous process of

discovery and action (Noffke and Somekh, 2011). To this end I pursued theoretical research

on the themes of space, mental health and spoken word, alongside the action and reflection

cycles our PAR group worked within to establish the mental health spoken word event Flying

South. This theoretical research served to develop and enrich the discoveries we made as a

group and enabled me to build a theoretical framework around the overall process.

2.2 Research Objectives

Important sub questions emerged from the theoretical research I conducted and the empirical

process the PAR group has engaged in:

1. How can spoken word spaces enable a re-construction of the spatialisation of

madness?

2. How can spoken word be a tool of subjective and collective empowerment against a

historical metanarrative of the voiceless “mad”?

27

3. How can spoken word spaces contribute to the expanding work of Irish community

mental health collectives?

The action research cycles I facilitated with the five other members of the PAR group

grappled with these questions and sought possible answers for them in the reflection we

conducted of our process thus far and the creation of Flying South itself.

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is part of a wider Critical Social Theory research

paradigm which upholds a participatory worldview and advocates action and reform in the

lives of both the participants and research facilitator (Creswell, 2007: 21). At its core PAR is

a tool for emancipatory participatory action to be theorised and enacted as a way of achieving

empowerment and social justice in the face of oppression (Kindon et al, 2010: 12). For this

reason the PAR process was analogous to this project’s goal of taking action in the area of

mental health expression in order to create a space in which subjective mental health

experiences could be both spoken and listened to. The typical PAR process of creating a

working group and working in cycles of action and reflection was used to achieve this goal.

The importance of voice and narrative dialogues is vital in the construction of a community

spoken word space in which “critical exchange” (hooks, 1990) around mental health might

occur. All voices are of equal importance in this project and this was another reason I chose

to use PAR as the main research approach. PAR disrupts the traditional hierarchal researcher-

subject dichotomy and instead places those, who typically are perceived as research subjects,

on equal footing with the researcher in a Participatory Action Research group (Herr and

Anderson, 2005). In effect all participants become researchers in pursuit of subjective and

collective knowledges. I intended for this decision to be a rejection of the neoliberal culture

of the “knowledge economy” within traditional positivist research and instead for my

2.3 Why Participatory Action Research (PAR)?

28

research to contribute to a collective and liberatory form of community knowledges and

action.

In conjunction with the PAR process undertaken qualitative research methods such as semi-

structured interviews, informal interviews and diary accounts were also used to aid the

reflective process inherent to PAR. PAR shares some similarities with typical naturalistic

qualitative research in that both reject scientific positivism in perceiving the social world and

both value the individual lived experiences of research participants (Esterberg, 2002:11).

However PAR deviates from traditional qualitative research in its emphasis on action as part

of the research process and so was more appropriate as the main research approach in this

project. This is not to de-legitimatise naturalistic qualitative research approaches and the

paradigms which accompany them. Rather I simply acknowledge that different social

contexts call for variations in research methods and models of knowledge production. This

project strove to value subjective knowledges and experiences of mental health issues

through the construction of a spoken word space, and in doing so, to challenge the

stigmatisation and oppression of mental health experiences in wider society. It was therefore

vital that I facilitated an emancipatory research process which upheld the values of equal

participation, expression and a plurality of diverse knowledges.

2.4.1 The PAR Working Group

2.4 Sources of Data

The Participatory Action Research Working Group was established in December 2014 and

consisted of six people. The group was formed out of members of the Dublin spoken word

community with each member indicating interest in the project at various times prior to its

commencement. As a fellow member of the Dublin spoken word community I was positioned

within the PAR process as an “insider” researcher (Herr and Anderson, 2005: pp 32-33).

29

Most members had subjective experience of mental health difficulties including experiences

of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies. These experiences impacted

on each member’s decision to become involved in the PAR project. In order to uphold

anonymity within the study each participant was asked to choose a pseudonym.

Fig.1: Table of PAR participants

Participant

pseudonym

Age Sex Mental Health

Issue Experienced

Spoken Word

Interest

Niamh 22 Female Depression,

anxiety, suicidal

tendencies

Performance poet

Laura 24 Female Depression Poet

Daniel

25 Male Depression,

anxiety, suicidal

tendencies

Performance poet,

storyteller,

comedian

Loran 25 Male Depression,

anxiety, suicidal

tendencies

Performance poet,

storyteller

Felicity 22 Female Anorexia Poet, performance

poet

Bronagh 21 Female N/A Performance poet,

storyteller

30

2.4.2 Cycles of Action and Reflection

The empirical aspect of this research was conducted alongside the PAR working group which

formed in December 2014 and commenced work in January 2015. The group met once a

week for participatory meetings. These meetings followed the PAR format of cycles of action

and reflection (Kemmis, 1982). The action research group aimed to work in three cycles from

January to June of 2015 with each cycle lasting two months and at the time of writing is in

the second cycle.

The first cycle followed the PAR format of action and reflection around the setting up of a

community-based spoken word event centred on mental health expression. The first meetings

acted as a space for the action research group to reflect on the priorities and values of the

project and to begin the planning stage for the event. Each member of the action research

group, including myself, has kept a diary of the process in order to better enable the reflective

journey of the research. This first cycle of research included the initial setting up and

facilitating of the first event which took place on the 20th of March, 2015.

Fig.2: Cycle of Participatory Action Research:

The second cycle of the PAR process has involved reflection by the action research group on

the process thus far and the outcomes of the first event. This reflection process was aided by

weekly group meetings and one in-depth reflective participatory workshop in which I acted

31

as facilitator. This workshop followed the Gibbs reflective model of description, evaluation

and planned action (Gibbs, 1988). It enabled us to discuss as a group the assumptions we held

before beginning the project and to track how our understandings have altered. It also offered

us the benefit of better understanding the needs of the event and of its participants so as to

make our contribution to the mental health and spoken word communities a sustainable one.

At the end of the second cycle I also conducted semi-structured interviews with four

members of the PAR group so as to aid the reflection process and to better understand their

perspectives on the process so far. The second cycle of research also involved the planning

and facilitation of the second monthly Flying South event. At the end of the second cycle I

have collected and analysed the research findings thus far and they have been written up and

included in this dissertation to be submitted to the Sociology Department of Maynooth

University in April of 2015.

The third and final cycle of this project will involve further reflection and action by the

group, the continuation of the Flying South event and the dissemination of the research

findings. The dissemination process will be agreed upon by the action research group and

will include, both the distribution of the research findings among the mental health and

spoken word communities, as well as within the academic community in appropriate formats.

The PAR process and the qualitative research methods used such as semi-structured

interviewing and diary account keeping have been supported by the continuous theoretical

research I have conducted in fields relevant to the group’s process of action and reflection.

For qualitative researchers social theory should not determine our research process but rather

grow out of analyses of the empirical social world (Esterberg, 2002: 7). Like PAR, qualitative

research values the individual stories and experiences of research participants and so

2.5 Qualitative Methods

32

qualitative research methods are often used as part of the PAR process (Pain, Whitman and

Milledge: 2012: 2). The utilisation of the case study approach and semi-structured

interviewing were two qualitative research methods which benefited the PAR process we

conducted.

2.4.1 The Case Study Approach

The use of the case study approach is common both within qualitative research

methodologies and PAR studies. Case study approaches in social research use varying

qualitative techniques such as interviewing, participant observation, life histories etc. to

enable the perception and analysing of one specific case in a social setting (Berg, 1998: 213).

The case study approach enables researchers to perceive the enriched subjective lived

experiences of research participants and so, was a suitable approach in this project which has

placed such high value on subjective experiences of mental health issues. Such an approach

enabled the PAR group to use qualitative methods within a PAR paradigm to document in

depth the cycles of action and reflection that our group took over the course of four months.

2.4.2 Interviewing

The time period for conducting this study was constrained by the workings of the academic

calendar and my need to submit an undergraduate thesis at the end of the academic year. For

this reason semi-structured interviews were necessary in gaining a more coherent

understanding of group members’ experiences of the process, while also working within a

short time frame. According to Schutt semi-structured or “depth interviewing” is a qualitative

method used to discover participant’s experiences and perceptions (Schutt, 2012: 304). At the

end of the second PAR cycle I conducted semi-structured interviews with four members of

the PAR group in order to better my understanding of the project’s process from their

perspectives and to aid the overall reflective process of the research. Each interview was

33

approximately one hour long and was structured by themes which had arisen from the

group’s action process thus far. In analysing the research findings I coded the interviews

under these same themes: mental health narratives, spoken word, the Flying South space and

the PAR process undertaken as a group A full transcript of one of these interviews can be

found in the appendix section of this paper.

2.6.1 PAR Ethical Practices

2.6 The Importance of Ethics

In conducting a research project with a central focus on mental health the upholding of

ethical behaviour has been vital. Within participatory research frameworks the ethical values

generally upheld are social change that benefits the participants, empowerment, equal

participation, beneficence and agency (Manzo and Brightbill, 2007: pp. 33-36). These values

have been incorporated at every stage possible within the research process thus far. The very

aim of the project to create a spoken word space in which mental health narratives can be

expressed is in line with values of social change and empowerment. The participatory

research cycles we conducted enabled equal participation and beneficence at an empirical

level; while also ensuring the continued respect for each person’s agency. Empowerment and

equal participation were also important because our project strove to value subjective mental

health experiences. Indeed these same ethical principles are also core to mental health

survivor research (Faulkner, 2004:3).

2.6.2 Protecting the PAR Group Members

In order to ensure the safety and protection of each PAR participant’s personal information, I

ensured confidentiality throughout the research process. This was done primarily through the

selection of pseudonyms and the secure storing of the research data collected on a password

34

protected computer. In line with the importance of equal participation and in PAR we decided

as a group the stages of the research process. Informed consent was sought by the distribution

of information and consent forms to the PAR group at the beginning of the first cycle of

research. Each member was informed that they were free to both revoke information given or

leave the PAR process at any time. Once decided upon, as research facilitator I endeavoured

to keep the group informed of the process as it progressed.

The gathering of data was conducted throughout the PAR process using a range of qualitative

methods. During the process I kept a fieldwork diary of the decisions and actions we took as

a group. I also recorded minutes from the group’s weekly meetings and the two participatory

workshops I facilitated. At the end of the second cycle of research I conducted four semi-

structured interviews with members of the PAR group. Each group member interviewed

chose a pseudonym in order to preserve confidentiality in the research process. These

interviews were recorded and stored securely on a password protected computer. Once

transcribed I provided each interviewed participant with copies of their interview transcript

and offered them the opportunity to remove or revise any information they had disclosed.

2.7 Gathering and Analysing Data

2.7.2 Data Analysis: Grounded Theory

In analysing the data I chose to use a grounded theory approach as it seemed compatible with

the dialectical relationship between theory and action inherent to PAR. For Schutt grounded

theory is the method by which researchers develop theory inductively based on the

discoveries they make in the research field (Schutt, 2012: 341). The theoretical findings of

the PAR process were grounded in the cycles of action and reflection we engaged in as a

group. In the analysis stage I coded the data recorded in accordance with the main themes

which had emerged from our research process. These included; mental health narratives,

35

spoken word, the Flying South space and the PAR process as experienced thus far.

Categorising our data under these four themes enabled me to identify the findings most

significant not just to myself but to the PAR group as a whole.

2.8.1 Issues of Power and Participation

2.8 Barriers within the PAR Process

Participatory Action Research is typically perceived as a tool for subjective and collective

empowerment. Indeed the very participatory process of PAR is a subversion of the

hierarchical relationships constructed between “researcher” and “subject” in traditional social

science research (Kindon et al, 2007: 20). However the PAR model can also have negative

power effects. Often the re-inscription of the researcher as expert in the PAR group can occur

even if the researcher does not want or realise this (Kesby et al, 2007: 21). The subscription

of expert authority to my role by the other members of the PAR working group has been a

personal worry for me from the outset of this project. The time constraints of this study and

the commitments of the participants in other aspects of their lives meant the conduction of

collective theoretical research and analysis of the project’s findings was not practically

possible. As research facilitator I have conducted both of these on my own and so neither can

be perceived as participatory. This places me in a position of power in both the analysis and

dissemination processes. However to the best of my ability the research I have conducted has

been fuelled by the action the PAR group has taken in the real empirical world. The

dissemination process will be agreed upon in a participatory format by the group so as to

ensure the research findings remain in collective ownership. I acknowledged throughout the

process that as research facilitator I do not own any of the findings of the PAR process but

rather that the knowledge generated has come from the participatory process the group has

engaged in and is collectively owned.

36

2.8.2 Issues of Generalisability

Participatory Action Research has been often criticised for its lack of generalisability (Herr

and Anderson, 2005: 61) PAR shares with much qualitative case studies an inability to be

generalisable in terms of external validity (Bailey, 2007:182). PAR case studies are generally

only relevant to the participants involved in the study and the specific problem they are

attempting to address. The findings of a PAR study are therefore not generalisable to the

general population (Herr and Anderson, 2005: 62). However I would argue that the goal of

this project was centred on achieving a liberatory and dialectic process around the issue of

mental health expression. The generalisability of such a project came second to the practical

creation of a safe space in which people felt free to express their mental health narratives

openly. For Reason and Marshall it is not the generalisability of an action research project

which is of most importance but rather transferability (Reason and Bradbury, 2001:112).

Transferability of research findings is determined by the reader, who must evaluate them and

decide whether such findings might be applicable in a different setting (Denscombe, 2002:

148).

As a PAR group we intend for the documentation of our process and discoveries to be of

benefit in other settings in which mental health expression is the general goal. In the

following chapter I will outline some of the core findings found from both the PAR process

undertaken by the group and the creation of the Flying South space itself.

37

Chapter 3: Findings and Analysis

The goal of this research has been to work within a Participatory Action Research (PAR)

framework in order to establish a spoken word space centred on the (re)claiming of subjective

mental health narratives from a history of demonisation and stigmatisation. In drawing on the

discourse of peer support and the tools of spoken word we sought to create a space in which

mental health stories could be openly expressed rather than oppressed. The PAR process thus

far has resulted in the creation of such an event space which the PAR group has named

Flying South. At the time of writing the group is in the second PAR cycle of action and

reflection and have just recently hosted the second Flying South event. As a PAR project the

process undergone to create this event was never orientated towards identifying generalizable

findings, but rather grounded in the emancipatory action of providing a space in which

madness could be voiced. As such in this chapter I do not provide a definitive answer to the

original research question posed, rather I am aware that the findings we have encountered are

relevant to the specific context in which we created the spoken word space. As such I

document the cyclical process we enacted as a PAR group and the subjective and collective

outcomes of this process to date. Valuable lessons have been learned both throughout the

process and in the creation of the mental health spoken word space itself. For this reason in

this chapter I will firstly analyse the findings of the process that the PAR group has

undergone for the past four months and follow this with an analysis of the Flying South event

itself and the discoveries the creation of such a space has provided us with.

3.1 Introduction

38

3.2.1 Motivations of the PAR Group

3.2 Key Findings of the PAR Process

On the 10th of January 2015 the PAR group met for the first of our weekly participatory

meetings. We reflected on our motivation for involvement in the project and provided our

individual understanding of what the project should become. A serious motivation for the

entire group was previous and/or present experiences of mental health difficulties and a

desire to create a space in which those experiences could be openly shared. This need

emerged from a general perception of stigma around mental health in Ireland and the often

dehumanising experiences of mental health treatment. One member of the group, Daniel,

spoke about his experience with mental health difficulties:

I’ve personally struggled with mental health throughout my entire life, still am to this

day. A huge amount of my family members have struggled with mental health, a huge

amount of my friends struggle with mental health. I think it’s a socially condemned

subject for some strange reason, specifically in Ireland; Ireland has like, the second

highest suicide rate in Europe at least. I think that’s a disgusting notion to have about

ourselves.../I mean I’ve known people who’ve killed themselves, I’ve known people

who’ve taken that route. So I think in every way possible we as a wider society should

tackle it, should be more open and honest about it to enable ourselves to have a free

and open space and by that I mean, the wider society, wider world. But there should

be areas where it’s totally okay to say how you’re feeling.

Daniel draws a connection between the social condemnation of madness in Irish society and

the repercussions this has on mental health issues. As Wahl notes the stigmatisation of

madness has damaging impacts on mental health recovery and self-esteem (Wahl, 1999: 467).

Daniel also speaks about the need for “free and open” spaces in which mental health

39

experiences can be voiced. The notion of openly expressing one’s experiences of madness as

beneficial and empowering against stigmatisation is well documented within the peer support

discourse. For Hatzidimitriadou the focal aspect of both self and collective empowerment

comes from collective sharing and expression of mental health difficulties (Hatzidimitriadou,

2002: 282). Laura, another member of the PAR group expressed a similar perception of

madness being stigmatised in society.

There is still a lot of stigma around it and it’s starting to improve, but it’s very slow.

As a PAR group we identified our perception of a culture of silence around mental health in

Ireland as our main motivation for creating a space in which it could be openly voiced. Our

project to create such a space using spoken word was how we chose to enable a process of

empowerment against the silencing and marginalisation of madness.

3.2.2 Conceptualising the Space

In January 2015 we engaged in the first cycle of action and reflection in order to negotiate

what the spoken word space would be and how it would facilitate the expression of mental

health narratives. To this end there were two pivotal decisions made by the group; how we

chose to define spoken word, and how we would formulate a safe space for mental health

expression.

In popular culture spoken word is typically understood as performance poetry or spoken word

poetry. As a group we perceived this as too niched a form of expression which could not

provide the potential open forum for mental health expression we envisioned. As one of the

group participants Loran outlined, spoken word understood as strictly performance poetry can

detract from individual expression.

1: Defining Spoken Word

40

Y’know there’s a style and a culture around it [performance poetry]. Em, which I

think is good in its own way, but can be slightly homogenising of the way people

express themselves.

As such we made the decision to define spoken word not just in terms of performance poetry,

but as all forms of spoken word including, but not exclusive to; poetry, performance poetry,

drama, monologues, storytelling, comedy, anecdotal sharing, etc. In essence the event would

facilitate any form of spoken word which aided a person in their expression of mental health

experiences. Indeed the benefits of orality and spoken word practices in coping with

emotional experiences have been documented throughout history (Dooley, 2014: 85).We

chose to draw on this history and to utilise the tools of spoken word to facilitate a space in

which people could voice their mad identities and mental health stories.

In creating an event in which people felt comfortable expressing their experiences with

mental health issues, it was imperative to construct a space in which they felt safe to do so. At

the beginning of the PAR process we negotiated the methods by which this could be done. I

facilitated a workshop in which we discussed as a group the notion of a safe space ; from this

we identified the most important components of the space to be valuing everyone’s stories

and not tolerating discrimination of any kind. A safe space policy was drawn up and made

available on the Flying South social networking page and in hard copy at the event (see

appendix 2).We also chose to utilise the roles of the MC and feature performers at the event

to define the space as safe to the audience. In addition to this we provided information sheets

of Irish mental health services and charities available for people to take home from the event

(see appendix 3). All of which resulted in Flying South as a safe space which works to be

welcoming and respectful of every person and their subjective voices.

2. Formulating a Safe Space

41

3.2.3 Peer Support within the PAR Process

Action research is typically more emotionally draining than traditional forms of social

research because it places the researcher and participants in positions of both subjective and

collective vulnerability (Herr and Anderson, 2005: 77). As a PAR group we encountered

quite a few obstacles during the planning process for Flying South. There were conceptual

disagreements within the group as well as mental health difficulties arising for participants

during the process. Our intention as a group was to create an event space which would draw

upon the tools of peer support and spoken word in order to enable dialectic expressions of

mental health. We did not however anticipate the impact such tools would have on us as

individuals and as a group during the overall process. Endorsing the participatory and

community based praxis of PAR enabled us to negotiate the issues we faced and to offer each

other solidarity in our mental health experiences. We did this through our weekly

participatory meetings which we always commenced with individual check-ins and through

our reflective workshops. It was a difficult and emotional process with one of our group

members, Daniel, attempting suicide during the first cycle of research.

I attempted suicide on the 28th of February. I didn’t really understand why. Woke up

the next morning and kinda, still not really understanding why. But at least I can say

it was not having a structure in which I felt secure that gave me some kind of avenue,

literally an avenue, something to go down and some sort of structure, something to

do, someone to talk to, anything, all of it.

During our research process Daniel was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy which had a

major impact on his mental health. He encountered multiple barriers in accessing public

mental health services and felt overwhelmed by this. It wasn’t until the end of the second

cycle of research that he shared his attempted suicide with the group. In one of our reflective

42

workshop Daniel informed us that the sense of community and solidarity we had built in both

the PAR group and in the space of Flying South itself had given him a renewed sense of

community and support. As I recorded in my fieldwork journal:

09/04/2015: [Daniel] told us at the workshop yesterday that he attempted suicide at

the end of February, during the same week when mine and [Laura’s] depression was

bad. He told us that if it wasn’t for Flying South he wouldn’t be here and that being

part of this whole process has been a huge support for him.

Daniel’s experience of finding solidarity and meaning in the PAR process was also echoed

by other participants’ experiences. Loran also indicated gaining a sense of self-value both

from the process and in creating the space itself.

And I think I learned over the process of planning and at the event and afterwards my

own value. Like, I learned things about myself that I’m good at and I’m more

confident at asserting myself and that. So yeah, I learned a lot about myself as a

person and as a member of a community and as a student and I learned a lot about

other people as well.

Such experiences of community, learning and personal empowerment are congruent with

those reported of peer support groups in which mutual help and social engagement benefit

users (Brosnan, 2014: 86). Thus the PAR process, with its emphasis on dialectical

empowerment and community based praxis, has the potential to facilitate peer support

strategies. Without initially realising it we upheld practices of peer support through our

participatory process and they fulfilled the role of cementing us together as a community and

as a support network for one another.

43

3.3.1 Constructing the Space: Flying South Takes Off

3.3 Key Findings of the Flying South Space

Thomas Gieryn identifies three core components in creating place, which for him is space

which has meaning; geographic location, material form and investment with meaning and

value (Gieryn, 2000: 464). All three were important in the creation of the Flying South space.

However in particular material form and investment with meaning and value operated in

dialectic to construct an open space for narratives of madness to exist.

Material Form

In line with Gieryn’s (2000: 465) theory that places are to some extent “carved out” or built,

we manipulated the material configuration of the Flying South venue in order to establish a

physically welcoming and equal space. This involved the manifestation of the space as safe in

the use of seating arrangements, lighting and the refreshments provided. To create a sense of

equality and equal participation the seating was rearranged in a circular formation; a strategy

often utilised within participatory practices (Chambers, 2002: 12). The suggestion that people

could perform from their seats was also made, which further emphasised the space as equal

and dialectical. We opted for soft lighting, placing fairy lights around the stage and tea lights

on tables throughout the space. Baked goods and hot beverages such as coffee and teas were

also provided; all of which constructed a safe and welcoming material environment. One

member of the PAR group, Felicity, noted how we constructed the space as welcoming and

homely:

People were very welcoming and everyone was just talking to each other and it did

feel like a safe space, which is what we were emphasising. I suppose I felt comfortable

and there was something kind of homely about it as well… just because we had baked

44

stuff and the couches were old, there was something homely about it. And we just kind

of made it what it was because it was just kind of an empty room. It kinda felt like we

put our own little stamp on it.

This manifestation of a safe space in the physical environment impacted on the collective

sense of safety among the participants at the event and their comfort in expression. Kohn

(2003: 3) notes that physical spaces impact on subjective and collective identity formations

Our manipulation of the physical traits of the Flying South space created a welcoming

environment which enabled people to feel comfortable in expressing their subjective and

collective mad identities.

Investment with Meaning and Value

In turn the expression of mad identities within the space influenced the meaning and value

attached to the place. This is illustrative of Springer’s theory that space influences identities

and identities in turn impact on the formation of space (Springer, 2010: 236). The PAR

group strove to create a supportive and open environment. This was done through the naming

and explanation of the space as safe by the MC, which the feature performers reiterated and

personified through sharing their own mental health stories before performing. We also

provided copies of the Flying South safe space policy and information sheets on mental

health services were made available. While these acts encouraged the meaning of the space

as safe and open, it was the honest expression of the participants at the event which really

brought this meaning to life.

Daniel: One of the most exhilarating things of that entire evening was seeing people

openly talk. I felt safe. I felt secure… [and] I was deliberately ease-dropping and I

was astounded by how many people talked about their own experiences, talked about

why they came, where they heard about it.

45

Another PAR group member reiterated Daniel’s thoughts:

Bronagh: What surprised me was how brave people were and how honest.

In my fieldwork diary I noted the variation of mental health stories voiced within the Flying

South space, which included experiences of depression, suicide, dissociation, anorexia, grief,

schizophrenia, bi-polar, sexual assault and anxiety. These experiences were not only shared

in the act of performance but also in conversation during the intermission and between

performances. At the end of the event we were approached by many people who praised us

for creating Flying South and told us how meaningful the space was to them. I recorded in my

fieldwork diary:

21/03/2015: Lots of people came up to me at the end of the night to tell me how much

the event had meant to them. It was really rewarding to know we had created a space

people felt safe in.

Thus the meaning and value of the space as open and supportive was embodied by the people

present and the identities they felt comfortable to share.

3.3.2 Valuing our Mental Health Narratives

In both reflective workshops and in the interviews I conducted the PAR group identified the

importance of valuing each individual’s mental health story within the Flying South space.

This valuing occurred both in the act of performing and in the presence of a listening

audience

Value and Self-worth through Performing

In the creation of the Flying South space we discovered that the expression of mental health

narratives through performance was of great benefit. Appreciation of the spoken word space

46

as enabling self-expression was emphasised both by the PAR group and from feedback given

by event participants.

Felicity: There’s just something liberating about saying something out loud that has

only been going on in your head and being appreciated for it and feeling understood.

Felicity outlined the cathartic effects of expressing mental health stories and the sense of

appreciation she has gained from expressing them through spoken word. Another member of

the PAR group, Bronagh, referred to the impact performing spoken word has had on her self-

confidence:

I find it really therapeutic...you get to connect with the audience and build up this

rapport. It has helped my confidence and writing. It was a lifeline for me for a while.

It helped me get through a lot.

Within the literature on spoken word the therapeutic benefits of performing are well recorded.

Indeed Somers Willet refers to spoken word as a “release type of art” (Somers Willet, 2009:

4). While performing in itself has proven beneficial in terms of cathartic release for all

members of the PAR group, the above members also both indicated the impact performing

has had on their sense of self-worth. Felicity’s sense of appreciation and Bronagh’s

improvement in self-confidence are commonly reported benefits of sharing within peer

support communities (Nelson et al, 2006: pp 2-6).Within the space of Flying South we

emulated these benefits in providing a space for each person’s story to be voiced and valued

equally. As well as achieving a sense of value in the act of performing, the PAR group also

realised the importance of a listening audience in the valuing our mental health narratives.

47

Valued by an Audience

Laura: I think the idea of an active, listening audience is one of the big reasons why

it’s so useful, because I think with mental health a lot of the time isolation is such a

big thing and people feel like either their stories don’t deserve to be heard or are

worthy of being heard.

Laura indicated that the importance of having an audience attend to our mental health

narratives is due to the sense of those same narratives typically being devalued. Our

subjective lived experiences of madness have historically been oppressed and stigmatised

(Scull, 2011). The attendance of an audience within the Flying South space provided a sense

of affirmation and self-worth which we have historically been denied. Daniel also mentioned

the importance of having an audience present in the space:

That’s why something like spoken word means so much, that’s why I love it so much,

because you’re doing exactly that the whole time. You’re up there on stage in a

centralised position and it may sound sad, but people have to listen to you, if you

signed up they have to listen to ya and that in itself is a beautiful thing. That’s what I

mean; I think that’s one of the main reasons why spoken word is so powerful to tackle

mental health, to tackle the wider social, political, cultural issues.

In the space of Flying South those who performed were in a centralised position in which the

entire focus was on them and their story. The audience at Flying South partook in the act of

respectful listening of each other’s voices which enabled a space in which our mad narratives

were valued. The audience also partook in the participatory Nommo tools typically associated

with spoken word praxis; laughter, rhythm and call and response were enacted during

performances which created an environment of equal participation within the space and

provided performers with support and appreciation. After performances, conversations and

48

words of support provided immediate responses of solidarity with the stories shared. The act

of performing and the audience engagement in the dialectical process of spoken word enabled

Flying South to become a space in which mental health narratives were brought into the

realm of the valued.

3.3.3 The role of Dialogue in Flying South

For Ledwith and Springett (2010: 106) dialogue enables us to engage in sharing our

narratives with others and in doing so, to better understand and change those narratives if we

so wish. In such a way the expression and sharing of stories has the potential to be

transformative. In the space of Flying South the use of dialogue generated a greater

understanding of our own subjective mental health narratives and of our perception of others’

as equally real. In doing so it enabled our narratives of madness to be rendered human rather

than demonised.

Loran: It was just really fulfilling and really amazing to hear people talk about their

different experiences, because I have my own experience of dealing with anxiety and

depression in my own circumstances, and hearing other people dealing with different

types of mental health issues, either when they were performing or just sitting down

and speaking to people was really amazing because y’know, we’re all sort of grouped

together as “people with mental health issues” or “mentally ill” or whatever. But,

like, people with different types of mental health difficulties have different experiences

and even people with the same types of mental health issues have different

experiences as well and it really helped to individualise everybody in my mind and

myself as well. Like, I felt it separated us out but kind of also brought us closer

together in my mind. Cause it was kind of just a big blob of like, mental people and

49

I’m one of them. But then, it separated us out so we could see each other better and

then when we could see each other better, we felt closer.

Loran’s account of Flying South is testament that the dialogue enacted in performances and in

conversations within the space enabled us to both express our own individual experiences of

madness more fully and to perceive other people’s as just as real as our own. Thus through

dialogue Flying South was rendered a space in which what de la Rosa calls “relational

consciousness” occurred. For de la Rosa “relational consciousness” can be fostered through

spoken word practices which empower us to solidify our own subjectivities and perceive

others as relationally different but just as validly real (de la Rosa, 2013: 18). In the Flying

South space our voices and narratives were expressed and valued equally which enabled us to

construct relational consciousnesses.

Daniel: That’s what it means to me, to be able to get it all out, get all my thoughts out,

to instigate thoughts in other people and to get that back as well. To get to express

consciousness at each other in a surrounding space, it’s absolutely beautiful to be

able to do that.

As Daniel notes the Flying South space enabled us to express our voices and consciousnesses

in dialectic with one another. In doing so we engendered our experiences of madness validly

human. Freire states that dialogue is imperative in the process of humanisation. For him

dialogue is the method by which we can engage in a participatory praxis of action and

reflection to create ourselves as liberated human beings (Freire, 1996: 69). The engagement

of dialogue within the Flying South space has facilitated a humanisation of our own mental

health experiences in relation to and in solidarity with each other.

In our reflections at the end of the second cycle of research the PAR group noted that this

dialogue had extended “organically” beyond the event space in a “ripple effect” through word

50

of mouth, conversations about the space and social media. The event has triggered the

voicing of mental health experiences around and beyond the space, which potentially opens

up room for dialogue to move beyond our particular context and into the wider social space.

Although as an undergraduate I am at the final stage of my research project requirements, the

Flying South journey is only just beginning. In our participatory meetings and workshops we

have outlined three main goals for the near future.

3.3.4 The Journey Continues

1. The sustainable continuation of the Flying South event

As a PAR team we endeavour to commence the third cycle of action and reflection in the

coming weeks in order to support the continued success of the Flying South event on a

monthly basis.

2. The facilitation of therapeutic writing workshops

In order to support the enactment of a safe space in the Flying South event we wish to

encourage the confidence and ability of every person to share their subjective mental

health narratives if they so wish. To that end we plan to work in partnership with local

spoken word artists and writer therapists in order to facilitate writing workshops themed

around mental health expression.

3. Collaboration with mental health collectives and NGOs

To date we have already received signs of solidarity and support from NGO’s such as Aware

and Pieta House as well as the mental health initiative See Change. We have plans to

collaborate with the mental health community through the event space itself and in

campaigning.

51

Through these goals we hope to continue the conversation around mental health and to

facilitate the reclaiming of mad narratives from a history of stigma into stories of liberation.

In this chapter I have documented some of the core findings of the PAR process we have

undergone thus far in creating the Flying South space. The PAR process to date has spanned

four months and has included two cycles of action and reflection. There have been many

discoveries during this process, all of which could not be included within the word count of

this research. However to the best of my ability I have documented the most vital findings of

the process thus far. The PAR process we as a group have undergone to reach this stage has

at times been physically and emotionally exhausting. However the participatory and

community based ethics of PAR practice enabled us to endorse peer support strategies to

support each other when emotional and mental health issues arose. As a group we have

formed a supportive network and community out of the research process undergone.

3.3.5 Conclusion of Findings

While the PAR process does not end here, the findings analysed thus far indicate that the

construction of the Flying South space has enabled the voicing of mental health narratives in

a safe and welcoming environment. The most important aspects of the Flying South space

have been to ensure that participants felt welcome, safe and valued in the expression of their

mad identities and narratives. This has been vital to the PAR group because of our perception

of mental health stigmatisation and oppression as still prominent in wider society. We have

drawn on peer support group strategies and spoken word practices to construct a space in

which madness can be expressed and discussed freely in both performance and dialogue. In

this way we have created a dialectical space for subjective and collective mental health

narratives to be both voiced and finally, heard.

52

According to Lefebvre space is socially produced and reproduced and can be utilised as a tool

for exerting power and oppression by the dominant in society (Soja, 1996: pp10-11). In this

research I have argued that the use of space in segregating the mad has over the centuries

worked to configure mental health narratives as dehumanised and ‘other’. The insurgence of

bio-psychiatry and the treatment of madness solely based on bio-medical treatment strategies

within the mental hospital only served to exacerbate this sense of powerlessness projected

onto mad subjectivities. Placed within a patient/medical professional dichotomy the mad

were fed the identity narrative of passive recipient in their own treatment stories (Sapouna,

2012: 613). This silencing and oppression of the mad within the spatial confines of the

asylum pervades to this day in the general metanarrative of stigma surrounding mental health

in society.

4.1 Conclusion

In an attempt to contest this oppression and stigmatisation of mental health narratives we

have created a spoken word space in Flying South which enables the open expression of

madness within a community of solidarity. As a spoken word space Flying South has become

an arena for dialectical mental health narratives to be shared and reclaimed. In our

construction of Flying South as materially and emotionally a safe space, participants of the

event have felt safe in expressing their experiences of madness. Through the use of

performance, audience engagement and dialogue Flying South can act as a radical site in

which narratives of madness are (re)told. The space enables subjective and collective

expression which works to empower us in claiming our marginalised identities and in

renaming the spatial organisation of madness, so that it can come alive in a place of freedom

and openness. Through the collective respect and solidarity built in the Flying South space

mental health narratives can be expressed, embodied and reclaimed. Indeed if we lend

ourselves to the radical educationalist Paulo Freire (1996: 25), it is only through mutual and

53

collective education that we can unveil reality and truly liberate ourselves. The space of

Flying South is one way in which we reveal the realities of madness through the voicing and

collective sharing of subjective experiences and knowledges. Such a space is just one tool in

the struggle to bring mental health narratives away from the realm of demonisation and into a

space of the free, the human and the spoken.

54

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Appendix A

Appendix

Transcript of an Interview

Pseudonym: Loran

Date: 26/03/2015

Venue: The Central Hotel

Facilitator: Tell me a little about yourself

Loran: I’m twenty five and I’m a psychology student. I’m a first year mature student. And I eh, write things. I have anxiety and depression. I’m a lovely person. I’m friendly and nice.

Facilitator: Does having anxiety and depression the reason you wanted to get involved in this project?

Loran: Not directly. But y’know, all your experiences kind of contribute to who you are and why you want to do things. I think my anxiety and depression and dealing with it has a significant impact on who I am. I wanted to do it (PAR project) because I thought it would be a good thing to do. I wanted to do it because I’m interested in people and I like words. And eh, I think it’s important to hear about people’s issues with mental health from them. Because I think it’s important to read textbooks and read, like, journal articles or whatever. But I think it’s also important to humanise people and hear about their experiences from them.

Facilitator: And I guess we’ve been doing this work is to use spoken word as a way for people to share their own experiences in their own way. You mentioned that you enjoy writing and you enjoy words. How would you define spoken word?

Loran: Well, on a basic level it’s just speaking, y’know? But, it does mean something else, something more specific. Y’know there’s a style and a culture around it. Em, which I think is good in it’s own way, but can be slightly homogenising of the way people express themselves. Em, but that happens with any medium. Y’know, you can go to a spoken word event and it’s not an unsurprising thing to hear two people perform and think if you closed your eyes you wouldn’t be able to tell it was two different people. And then other times you’d hear something and think it’s so unique and so of themselves that it’s really and incredible experience. So, I think it’s just like anything in that respect (like other art forms) and that it’s very immediate and you can just do it.

Facilitator: And you mentioned that it can be a medium that can be homogenising. What things could be done to challenge that?

60

Loran: I think, em, I dunno. I think it’s difficult because things kind of, anyway. Say, in music, there’s genres and there’s styles. You can’t stop people from drawing from each other. It can be a way of someone finding a new way of expressing themselves that suits them that feels close to them. But it can be a bit of a crutch, where it allows them to be less vulnerable and less themselves by adopting the other mannerisms of another person.

Facilitator: So, as in, people would have to think they have to perform in a certain way or take on a persona that’s part of the style of spoken word?

Loran: Yeah.

Facilitator: And do you think that what we’ve been doing in opening up the meaning of spoken word to not just being the style of a slam identity, that that could change things?

Loran: Yeah, I think the more you get people who are outside of it, outside of the spoken word community as it is, the more themselves or less homogenised or whatever, they’re gonna’ be. The more someone gets exposed to a certain culture, the more they’re gonna adapt to that culture and conform to it and y’know, you can’t stop that. But I think, the more people from outside of it that you bring in, and if you create a culture that’s slightly separate from the current culture of spoken word, I think you can stop that.

Facilitator: And when you say “the culture of spoken word” are specifically referring to slam culture?

Loran: Yeah, say like slam culture, spoken word culture in Dublin.

Facilitator: So you’d be thinking of the spoken word culture in Dublin as predominately performance poetry?

Loran: Yeah.

Facilitator: And in opening it up to different forms of spoken word we could challenge that?

Loran: Yeah, I think so.

Facilitator: Okay. And so, how have you experienced the process we’ve been going through as a group so far? What’s your experience of it?

Loran: Well, when you first mentioned it to me, I think we had just gotten to know each other. I think we’d spoken at Milk and Cookies and then when you mentioned it, I felt like it was something I wanted to do and be involved in. And I felt like I was able to cause we were kind of friends. Where as if it had been a week before I might have felt more uncomfortable cause like y’know “she doesn’t know me” and I dunno. It was kind of a bit in the air at the start cause we were planning for something and we didn’t know what it was going to turn out like exactly. Like, we’d no clue of what was going to happen. And I think we all had our own ideas of what it was going to be. I think we all had pretty similar ideas but like y’know, I was very relaxed about the whole thing. I think we were doing the best and had good intentions and all that. Yeah, I didn’t find the planning process or any of the things involved stressful.

61

Em, but it was kind of all given greater meaning after the event actually happened. The event itself was really like, amazing. Like, until it was half way through or towards the end, I was still kind of in the same headspace as I was when we were planning it. Like kinda like, I’ve no idea what this is going to be. Cause it was kinda dependant on other people and how they respond. But it was just, really fulfilling and really amazing to hear people talk about their different experiences because I have my own experience of dealing with anxiety and depression in my own circumstances. And hearing other people dealing with different types of mental health issues either when they were performing or just sitting down and speaking to people was really amazing because y’know, we’re all sort of grouped together as “people with mental health issues” or “mentally ill” or whatever. But, like, people with different types of mental health difficulties have different experiences and even people with the same types of mental health issues have different experiences as well and it really helped to individualise everybody in my mind and myself as well. Like, I felt it seperated us out but kind also brought us closer together in my mind. Cause, it was kind of just a big blob of like, mental people (Laughs) And I’m one of them. But then, it seperated us out so we could kind of see each other better and then when we could see each other better we felt closer, like in my mind and from just speaking to people. So like, it was really good on a personal level in that respect. And also as a psychology student, kind of made me.. Like, all I did was like, plan and do some fiddling and, like sitting down and talk to people like I normally would. Like, I wasn’t acting like a psychologist or drawing from anything I’d learned or whatever. But it kind of gave me more motivation to pursue my studies and career in psychology. Cause y’know I can make an impact on people’s lives, a positive impact, not just as a psychologist, but as myself as a psychologist. And I think I learned over the process of planning and at the event and afterwards my own value. Like I learned things about myself that I’m good at and I’m more confident at asserting myself and that. So yeah, I learned a lot about myself as a person and as a member of a community and as a student. And I learned a lot about other people as well.

Facilitator: Yeah, I really felt the same. So, initially even though you felt like you didn’t know how the event was going to go, what did you want it to be? What was your particular “I would like this event to be this” thing?

Loran: Em, I wanted it to be pretty much what it ended up being. Like, none of the things I thought might have gone wrong did or nothing bad happened. It was better than what I wanted to be. I wanted to give people a place where they can express themselves and I wanted to learn from that. But I didn’t think I’d learn so much about myself, which is kind of naïve cause you learn about yourself no matter what you do.

Facilitator: Well, I don’t think its naïve, I think when we got into this, we were thinking of how we can create this space for other people, we weren’t thinking so much about how this would change us.

Loran: Yeah. But it definitely has impressed upon me to like, keep in mind how I can learn. Just to be more aware of when I’m doing things how they can impact on me and how I learn about myself through it.

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Researcher: So, em, even though you didn’t really think about how it would change you. I guess on a personal and interpersonal level, what did you hope to gain from the whole experience?

Loran: Well, I’d never put on an event before. So I wanted to get experience of doing that. Yeah, gain experience of working on an event on mental health or something that was focused in that area. I wanted to see if I could help people, cause that was the point. That’s kinda what I hoped to gain from it and everything I wanted happened.

Researcher: So I guess the event was centred around people using spoken word to tell their stories. I also thought it was an amazing thing to hear other people’s experiences and not just to know your own. Ehm, so do you think, not just spoken word, but self-expression in general is an important part of dealing with mental health issues?

Loran: Yeah. I think it’s important on a few levels. Like, I think first of all I think it’s important because before you express yourself to other’s you have to be able to express yourself to yourself. And it’s a great way of engaging in a process of self-discovery and really understanding your own emotions and thoughts. Which I think is really valuable and isn’t something that people do naturally. So yeah, I think that’s really, really valuable. So yeah, in terms of expressing yourself to other people, it kind of solidifies a narrative. Y’know when you tell other people, it kind of anchors your thoughts and feelings that you’ve processed and makes them feel more real and more solid. And it kind of forces you to commit to them. Like, once you put something out into the world, you’ve committed to that being part of your narrative because you can’t take it back. So, I think that can really help people because it can be a bit scary, cause you think like, your losing control of your narrative, cause you can’t edit it y’know? You can add to it and you can refer back to it, but you can’t change it as it originally came out. And I think that can provide a big motivation for people to stick with a narrative of growth and to what they’ve set on as what they want to do. Em, and then I think it’s important as well in creating a sense of community. It ties you to people, not just in way that makes you commit to your narrative or your goals, but it ties you to people in a really positive way and it creates a sort of social support network. You can connect with people and they can give you insight. It helps you make friends. And irrespective of how it helps you, it can help other people as well. Y’know, people who are not at a point where they can express themselves or explore themselves, it can prompt that exploration and self-expression because they see someone else say something and if it resonates with them, the point of resonance is that it moves something in you, even if you didn’t move it yourself. So it can prompt that and I think that’s really important.

Researcher: So if saying or expressing our own stories and experiences helps us to solidify them, do you think it also helps to change them?

Loran: Yeah. Because you have to make something real before you can change it. When something is intangible you can’t grapple with it, you can’t deal with it. You have to make it solid and real to be able to really touch it and change it. So yeah, I think definitely yeah.

Researcher: So what are your hopes for our future events?

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Loran: I think we can make it better. I think we can just get better at it moment to moment of it. Yeah, I want to talk to people more and encourage people to talk to each other more. And have more people express themselves and grown farther outside of the established sort of, spoken word community to people who just want to express themselves around mental health that’ll help more people express themselves who wouldn’t normally have done so. I think just refining it and making it more of what it is… And then sell it for millions! (Laughs)

Researcher: Yeah, I think what we were saying about having more breaks and more room for people to talk and more dialogue would be good. So, I have a big question now.. What is your understanding of the narratives around mental health that exist at the moment in Ireland?

Loran: Em, well, there’s sort of a cultural narrative and personal narrative. I think the cultural narrative is really basic. It’s just like “you go mad, you have some kind of a breakdown or something and you get sent away or something”. Like, I think there’s a bit of a narrative that it happens to specific people. Y’know like, “mental” people have mental health issues and something happens and they break down and they get sent away and they’re never seen again or they come back out and they’re just mental. I think that’s what people think. I don’t think people really believe that it could happen to them, or that it could happen to anybody. Like, it’s not like a thing you’re born with necessarily, that you can just have an issue. I think people think of it more as having mental illness. Like, you have a mental illness or there’s nothing wrong with you. I terms of personal narratives for people, I think it’s affected by that cultural narrative. People think like if they have a mental health issue then they have something wrong with them like, on a basic fundamental reason. That they’re somehow less human or y’know, less whole than other people who don’t have them, or pretend not to or whatever.

Researcher: So you think that’s influenced by the wider narrative of “something’s wrong with you kinda thing”?

Loran: Yeah, I think so.

Researcher: And where do you think that comes from?

Loran: Well, I think it’s sort of our understanding of psychological issues is only a hundred years old. Y’know and a hundred years ago it wasn’t exactly very accurate.

Researcher: So mental health issues in its modern perception is only a hundred years old?

Loran: Yeah, sort of what our current understanding of it is. The genesis of how we see and deal with psychological and mental health issues is only one hundred years old and before that, it was purely sort of a religious or spiritual thing. And there wasn’t a hard break. It wasn’t like, Freud didn’t come out and have a chat and everyone went “Oh sure, it’s not the religious thing anymore so!” Like there’s people who still believe in western countries and in Ireland that it’s sort of a spiritual or religious disturbance”

Researcher: Like a moral thing?

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Loran: Yeah. Like, some kind of moral deficiency or like a possession or something.

Researcher: The auld demon possession.

Loran: The auld demon possession. Yeah, I think it’s just a hangover of that. And I think part of it is a hangover and part of it is some people are still drinking. Y’know, the hangover isn’t a hangover yet.

Researcher: And do you think the change in the last hundred years, like we have things like psychology, psychoanalysis and psychiatry. In those three different disciplines, which do you think has the most hold on our social understanding of mental health in Ireland?

Loran: I think they all sort of contribute to it. Because y’know we’ve thought some really wrong things and we still think some really wrong things. Like some things that we kind of, well you can’t say something is objectively wrong cause it’s a consensus thing. But like, say, fifty years we started giving labotomies and that was done in the name of science and knowledge but it wasn’t much better than demon possession. It was exorcising people in part of their brain rather than a demon. Like, ethics only came into existence in the last sixty years and has been slow to take hold. I think it’s pretty good now comparatively. I think psychology and psychoanalysis have less of a hold than in other European countries or in America or anywhere in the West because it’s so denied and it’s so hidden away from. I think psychiatry has had a bigger impact because it’s been the only sort of area of society that’s kind of faced it. Irish society said “we don’t want to talk about this” so it was left to the psychiatric establishment to define what it was for us. I think in Europe and in America Psychology has more of a cultural penetration. Like people talk about pop psychology in America, like it’s a popularly known thing and psychoanalysis in Europe on the same level. But Ireland we just don’t talk about it. So if we just don’t talk about it, there’s no culture around it and it’s sort of handed off to other people.

Researcher: And do you think in Ireland, like, that that’s linked to the ways we deal with other social problems? Do you think it’s linked to religious intuitionalism or? Like why do you think in an Irish context it’s different?

Loran: Yeah. I think religion and the sort of, over-catholicisation of Ireland is kind of in response to colonialism. Like, when you’re being oppressed you want to cling on to some part of your identity and religion was a big aspect of that. I think as soon as the era of hard colonisation ended people went a bit mental, we were basically a fuckin theocracy for the majority of our existence as a county. And yeah, I don’t think you can allow another theory of what it is to be human, what is it to think and feel than religion in a theocracy y’know? I think that contributed to suppression of the penetration of psychology or psychoanalysis and it was left to people who weren’t as influenced by the church in the psychiatric establishment. Cause they have their own establishment. And I think that’s dangerous because I think they could have the best of intentions, but groups that are in a room by themselves tend to lose perspective. Like if it’s just psychiatrists talking to each other it’s easy to lose perspective.

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Researcher: Instead of talking to the people they’re supposed to be treating, as well as psychologists and psychoanalysists.

Loran: Yeah, and I think the way things are done in a country are determined by the culture. Like the culture has to tacitly okay it. Like the culture tacitly okay-ed and overtly okay-ed the way the catholic church acted throughout our history. But I think in terms psychiatry, it was okayed by omission, because we didn’t talk about it.

Researcher: Yeah. And I guess as well in early mental heal treatment, like before it was psychiatric and still a “moral” treatment or whatever the church still had a big influence on that and then the church still had that link in.

So if you think the general narrative is still a bit demonising, what alternative narratives would you like to see around mental health?

Loran: I think, just general public discourse. To have mental health be part of what people talk about. It is in America. Like, if you ask an Irish person how they are they go “Ah I’m grand, and yourself?” If you ask an American how they are, they tell you y’know?

Researcher: Yeah, or even the way we have “How’re ya?” as a greeting, but you’re not supposed to answer.

Loran: Yeah, you’re not supposed to answer. So yeah, I think changing the way we talk to each other and the way we think about each other. Just yeah, softening the barriers. Like, we’re seperated from ourselves in terms of how we think about mental health, we don’t think about our own mental health unless we’re forced to by dire circumstances. And if you’re seperated from yourself, you’re certainly seperated from each other. You can’t ask someone else about their mental health if you can’t even ask yourself. So I think, breaking down barriers in individuals is important and between each other and just making it okay to talk about it. And not even okay, but like, I dunno. See I don’t think Americans talk about it cause it’s okay, I think they talk about it cause it’s interesting.

Researcher: As in like, do you think they still talk about it even if there’s till stigma?

Loran: Well no, I don’t mean that. I don’t think there’s much stigma in America. I don’t think the reason is cause they think it’s okay. I think they do think it’s okay but that’s not the main reason. The prime reason is because it’s an interesting way of engaging with people. Like, Americans will talk about what their psychological issues are as a way of helping each other understand each other y’know? It’s a way of representing yourself.

Researcher: So like, expressing those parts of yourself as part of your whole identity?

Loran: Yeah and that’s certainly something I’ve experienced with my own mental health issues. Like I talk about my anxiety and my depression because I think it’s an important part of who I am and it’s shaped me. I don’t think I’m defined by it, but I define it and therefore when I talk about I’m defining myself. Rather than having (something) of our culture define

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me. So I think that’s definitely something that should be encouraged. And I try to do it by talking to people.

Researcher: And do think, I mean we’re obviously a very small group of people and we’re only starting out, but do you think the space that we’ve built could be part of that process?

Loran: Yeah. Definitely. I think we have to be practical and we’re making an impact. Talking to seventy people about it is more than talking no people. Sitting in a room wishing you could speak to a whole nation is actually speaking to zero people y’know? We speak to people, people speak to us and they go off to speak to other people. That’s how you change the culture, from the bottom up. And I don’t think we’re not the only people who feel the way we feel. I think we may be some of the few people who are acting on how we feel, but I think we’ve proven and will continue to prove that there’s a space for acting on how feel about mental health and other people we’ll hopefully copy us and do it elsewhere.

Researcher: Make it global!

Loran: Make it global! Yeah, I think the country’s ready for. If only by the fact that we put on an event and packed out a room. It’s like that thing of “the change was waiting”. Like the people were waiting for us to make that space for them. Like we did work and we did plan or whatever, but the people who came and the people who are going to come were waiting for us and they’re ready for it. So we just have to keep doing it.

Researcher: And in the space that we did create, what do you think are important parts of a space like that for it to be a space where people will feel comfortable about expressing aspects of their mental health? What do you think are important aspects of a space like that?

Loran: I think that it’s relaxed. That it feels, just relaxed. Like, the space we are right now, in the library bar in the central hotel is really old. Like it feels like, the waiting room to a lawyer’s office or something. Like you don’t feel like you can stand up and start talking. But if you’re in a dingy auld abandoned factory with couches and candles and fairy lights, I think people feel a bit more like they can imprint themselves on the space. You can’t imprint yourself on this space because the space is older than you. It’s so established as what it is. Where as if it’s just an auld abandoned factory with things crawling the wall, it’s like a toddler of a space. It’s something you can imprint upon and y’know make your own.

Researcher: Do you think the people in the space are important?

Loran: Definitely. I think the people wanting to be there for the reason that they were there is important. People wanted to be there for the reasons that they were there, we just had to tell them why we wanted them to be there and have those two things match up.

Researcher: Do you think we did it well?

Loran: Yeah. Because the right people turned up.

Researcher: And in building that kind of a space of atmosphere where people feel like it’s okay to get up and be like “hey, this is my experience of being mental”.

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Loran: Yeah, because everyone was quiet and respectful because they wanted to hear and that was because we framed it as a place where people could come and talk about their experiences and everyone was going to listen.

Researcher: So the act of listening respectfully and talking were important parts of the space for you?

Loran: Yea, I think so.

Researcher: Okay, well I think that’s everything. Thank you for talking to me.

Loran: It was my pleasure.

Researcher: I’ll turn this fella off now.

Loran: Okay. Bye future Trudie!

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Appendix B

Flying South Safe Space Policy:

Flying South is a safe space mental health event. This means that we strive to make the event as safe and inclusive as possible for everyone attending. We acknowledge that no space is entirely safe but we try our best to create a supportive and non-threatening environment for all.

To do this Flying South employs the following policies:

- We are inclusive of everyone regardless of class, sex, gender identity, race, religion, ethnicity or physical or mental ability.

- We enter into the space with a commitment to respect all peoples voices and experiences of mental health and acknowledge that we are all different

- We commit to respecting others identities and dignity - We practice respectful and active listening - We support empowerment for each person in the space - We dedicate ourselves to acting in as caring as possible a manner - We offer each other support - We do not engage in violence or threats - We acknowledge that some performances or stories shared within the space may

be triggering for others and commit ourselves to announcing trigger warnings before sharing if needs be.

- We encourage a non-judgemental and accessible environment for all

The Ground Rules

1. We acknowledge that no space is fully safe but we want make Flying South as safer space as possible. If something shitty happens, we need to remind ourselves that this space is open to other people’s ideas, experiences, backgrounds, identities and beliefs. Any potential issues that might arise will be dealt with as they come.

2. Offensive and oppressive behaviour will not be tolerated within the space. If such behaviour occurs, we have a three strike warning system to remind people that we all have different experiences which should be respected.

3. Everyone is free to ask questions about the space at any time. 4. We always have copies of mental health services available within the space as well as

copies of our safe space policy. 5. No person is obligated to share experiences they do not wish to share.

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Appendix C

• Aware –

LIST OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

www.aware.ie, Tel: 01 661 711 • Bodywhys – www.bodywhys.ie, Tel: 01 283 4963 • Console – www.console.ie, Tel: +353 1 610 2642 • Grow – www.grow.ie, Tel: 1890 474 474 • Headstrong – www.headstrong.ie, Tel: +353 1 472 7010 • IMAlive – www.imalive.org • Mad Pride Ireland – www.madprideireland.ie • Mental Health Ireland – www.mentalhealthireland.ie, Tel: 01 284 1166 • Mind and Body Works - http://www.mindandbodyworks.com (Low cost counselling

and psychotherapy in North and South) • My Mind Centre for Wellbeing – www.mymind.org, Tel: (+353) 76 680 10 60 • Pieta House – www.pieta.ie, Tel: 01 623 5606 • Genesis Psychotherapy & Family Therapy Service – www.genesistherapy.ie, Tel: 01

820 2764 • Samaritans – www.samaritans.org, Tel: +353 1 671 0071 • See Change – www.seechange.ie, Tel: 116 123 • Suicide or Survive – www.suicideorsurvive.ie, Tel: 1890 577 577 • Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland – www.ypsi.eu, Tel: 021 242 7171

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Appendix D

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Appendix E

The Taste of Suicide – A Spoken word poem

I was eight year’s old when I first tasted the word “suicide” on my lips.

My child mind didn’t really understand death;

Didn’t know much about choosing it.

But I knew what it was to yearn for nothingness

and I knew that my multi-coloured skipping rope when coiled into the shape of a circle formed a noose.

There were no beams in our cluttered house to hang my rainbow from,

So I settled for curling reds, greens and blues around my neck

hoping that if I just pulled tight enough, I’d feel something different.

Something other than the clinking in my mind

and the dead ravens that had dug their grave in my chest.

I didn’t want to die;

not back then.

I was not searching for salvation;

only emptiness.

Over the years I sought release in strange places,

I would inhale fictional worlds until they were my own,

lose myself in the pretending.

Then curl into salt tears at night when the darkness reminded me who I really was;

fall asleep to the hope that maybe this time I wouldn’t wake up.

My weekly childhood bathes became cleansing rituals,

drowning my lungs in water long enough to make me feel alive.

Return to the surface.

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Gasping;

Writhing;

Itching for more.

I was sixteen when I tasted the word “suicide” on my lips again.

This time I swallowed it whole,

one pill after another.

My body became a burning crescendo,

My blood the river sticks crashing against my tired bones

immersing me in some mortal hell.

I burned from the inside out.

My attempt to leave this world was not the soft, quiet thing I’d imagined

but a mirage of vomit and fire.

Burning, aching, fading out.

Until I woke in a hospital bed to the tear-hinged sound of:

“Darling, please just stay with us”.

The next year is a string of half-strangled orchestras.

Melodies erupting in places they should not have been.

I marked the passage of time

in the red slits I cut into my own skin,

and in the pills I swallowed day after day.

Six months in a psychiatric ward,

curling my body into a ball of unapology at night.

They pumped me full of drugs

when I all I really needed was love.

Six months in a psychiatric ward;

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And not one therapy session.

So I found healing in my own way.

Learned how to receive love again

absorbing it into my frayed and delicate skin.

Drowning my lungs in laughter,

which made me feel alive in a whole different way.

I am twenty one.

Now when I feel that word on my lips I allow no time for it to linger

Spitting it out; I swallow memories instead.

Of love and of laughter,

Of dew-soaked sleeping bag dreams under oceans of stars,

Of un-coordinated dancing at two am to Radiohead.

Of my first university exam: me - a nervous wreck

My brother turning up dressed as a fully grown adult banana

Just to remind me that I could smile.

Of tight embraces,

And hands reaching out to hold one another;

Of way too many cups of hot chocolate.

Or just enough.

I was eight years old when I first tasted the word “suicide” on my lips.

Nowadays, there are moments,

Just moments;

When I forget how to spell it.